


And The Moral Is

by Selly87



Series: The Little Dragon [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-06-30 17:57:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15756831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selly87/pseuds/Selly87
Summary: Kayda teaches her parents a valuable lesson on parenting.





	And The Moral Is

**Author's Note:**

> The the words of one of my readers, “lying to your children never ends well”. I’m amazed at how quickly this plot bunny came to be but I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge, even though it really wasn’t one.
> 
> To understand this part of the series I recommend that you read “Wand Magic” (and maybe “Muggle Studies”) first, though I suppose it does also somewhat make sense on its own.

“Do you have room for ice-cream?” Harry asked as he and Kayda walked down Diagon Alley hand-in-hand, enjoying a relaxing afternoon of father-and-daughter time.

They were headed into the general direction of _Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour_ , a place that held bittersweet memories for Harry. Many, many years had passed since Florean had supplied him with free ice-cream — _and free tuition_ — but he still remembered the man fondly. He also remembered his untimely demise at the hands of Death Eaters. The young couple who ran the ice-cream parlour now had graduated from Hogwarts with Harry. He hadn’t known them personally while at Hogwarts, but was pleased that they’d kept the name in Florean’s honour.

“I always have room for ice-cream.” Kayda said so seriously that Harry couldn’t help but laugh. Kayda was rather obsessed with ice-cream, asking her if she wanted some was quite pointless. The answer was always yes.

They reached the small ice-cream parlour soon enough and even found a quiet corner inside. Harry ordered Kayda’s favourite and for himself he ordered ice coffee with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

A short while after their order arrived, Kayda resolutely stopped eating and putting her spoon down, she broke the comfortable silence.

“Daddy, is dada in a bad mood because he still hasn’t got his wand back?” She asked.

Harry thought for a moment, then decided to answer his daughter’s question with a question of his own. “What makes you think that?”

“Dada loves magic.” She said with a matter-of-fact tone that didn’t suit her age. “I think he’s having a hard time without his wand.”

“Well,” Harry started but stopped himself almost immediately. It had suddenly occurred to him that they’d never actually properly reprimanded Kayda for taking Draco’s wand when she knew she wasn’t allowed to. They’d also never punished her for it and she still didn’t know why Draco didn’t have his wand. Well, she knew that it had been taken from him for inspection and that had been a lie.

Harry sighed.

He hadn’t expected for them to get away with their lie for as long as they had. It hadn’t been a smart decision in the first place and he wasn’t quite sure why they’d done it at all. He suspected they’d gone down that particular road because the Ministry’s unreasonable punishment — _and their unwillingness to see sense_ — was such a sore topic for Draco that he probably wouldn’t have been able to keep his cool. Not that that was a valid excuse.

“How do I explain this to you?” Harry wondered out loud. For a moment he yearned for Hermione’s help, then he decided that he was man enough to educate his own children on what was right and wrong. Taking a sip from his coffee, Harry mentally prepared himself to swallow the bitter pill. For a moment he sought for the right words, then decided that there were none and dove right in. “By law wizards and witches under the age of eleven aren’t allowed to possess or use a wand, you know that, right?”

Kayda nodded.

“When you’re eleven you get your letter inviting you to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. That’s when you’ll get your first wand.”

“At Ollivander’s, I know.” Kayda said and it was Harry’s turn to nod.

“Even though you get your wand you’re only allowed to use it at Hogwarts until you finish your education and graduate.” Harry continued, figuring that telling Kayda about the exceptions to the law could wait until she actually got her first wand. Chances she would need magic to defend herself were pretty slim, he’d made sure of that many years ago, in fact he still made sure of that every day he went to work. “Do you understand?” He asked, wondering for the millionth time why children didn’t come with an instruction manual. Raising them was bloody hard work.

Kayda nodded. “No magic at home until I finish Hogwarts.” She said, rephrasing Harry’s words.

Harry nodded. “That’s right.”

“So when I took dada’s wand…”

“Well, you weren’t allowed to do that.” Harry said.

“And that’s why dada got that angry letter from that woman at the Ministry, right?”

Harry nodded. “Yes.”

“So there’s really nothing wrong with dada’s wand. He’s just getting punished for my mistake.”

“You could say that.” Harry said. “But, you see, you’re only seven, the Ministry can’t punish you. Yes, you shouldn’t have taken the wand and yes, you shouldn’t have played with it, but ultimately it was our fault. We put it in a place where you could reach it and so dada is being punished.”

“But that’s not fair.” Kayda frowned.

“Of course it is, sweetheart. We are your parents. We are responsible for you.”

“But you never punished me!” Kayda said so fiercely that the table shock and her ice-cream spoon slit across the table and dropped to the floor.

“That’s true.” Harry affirmed, not knowing what else to say.

“That’s not right. You should have punished me.”

Harry blinked, unsure if he had heard right. Was his daughter actually asking for punishment? Harry was confused. He was meant to be the parent, yet Kayda seemed to be doing a much better job at parenting and she was only seven. Bloody seven!

“You aren’t seriously asking to be punished for something you did three weeks ago.” Harry wondered aloud.

“Dad!” Kayda cried and the table shock again. Harry quickly held on to her ice-cream cup and his ice coffee, not wanting the contents to end up on the floor.

“Easy there, little dragon.” Harry tried to appease her. He felt completely out of his depth and for a moment he wondered whether someone was playing a mean trick on him and Kayda was actually a polyjuced version of Hermione.

“You should have punished me. In fact, I still think you should.” Kayda looked so sincere and Harry didn’t know how to react so he sighed.

“And what would be an appropriate punishment?” He asked.

“Dad!” Kayda exclaimed. “You’re supposed think of that yourself. Not ask me. Seriously!”

Harry closed his eyes for a moment, fervently trying to think of a suitable punishment for a crime his daughter had committed some three weeks ago. He and Draco should have been firmer when it had first happened, he didn’t see the point in serving a punishment now.

“Fine. No dessert for a week.” He eventually said and this time he wasn’t quick enough. Before he had the chance to stop it both his ice coffee and Kayda’s ice-cream cup ended up on the floor with an enormously loud crash. He profusely apologised to the owner’s wife, who’d jumped with a start, and taking out his wand he promptly vanished the thousand broken pieces of glass, spilled coffee and half-melted ice-cream.

“You’re making fun of me!” Kayda said with such indignation that Harry briefly contemplated to hit her with a Revelation Charm. How was it possible that his child was only seven years old?

“I swear I wasn’t.” Harry mumbled and pushing his glasses up he pinched the bridge of his nose, closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. “Look,” He then said resolutely, after finding some of his resolve. “I think you know that you did something you really shouldn’t have. I also think we both know that dada and me should have given you some sort of punishment. I’ll make you a deal, when we get home you apologise to dada and that’ll be that.” Harry paused and because Kayda looked anything but happy he quickly resumed, adding a bit more authority to his voice. “But, if you ever do such a stupid, and not to mention dangerous thing again, I will think of a punishment you won’t like at all. Such as maybe finding a new home for your Crup!” That did it. Kayda’s expression changed and for a moment Harry was convinced she’d cry — her eyes looked very watery indeed — but she simply nodded, silently agreeing with her dad’s proposed resolution. Maybe parenting wasn’t so hard after all, Harry thought but scratched the thought almost immediately. Parenting was hard and there would never be a magic cure to make it easier. There would also never be an instruction manual for it, one simply had to try and do their best. The whole thing was a case of constantly stepping out of your comfort zone.

  
~*~*~*~*~*~

  
“Tell me again why we decided to have children?” Draco sighed when he crawled into bed much later that night. Harry lowered the files pertaining to his latest case and smiled.

“We were probably temporarily insane and decided procreation would be a fabulous way to enhance our lives.”

“Only temporarily insane?” Draco questioned and boxing his pillow into place he rolled onto his side and looked up at Harry. “You know, Kayda and I had a bit of a talk before bed. She apologised for taking my wand and promised she’d never do it again. She said she’s sorry the Ministry is punishing me.”

“About that…” Harry sighed and closing the Auror files in his hand, he placed them on his nightstand, then shuffled into a more comfortable position. “Our daughter gave me a bit of an earful this afternoon. She was unhappy we didn’t punish her for taking your wand. I’m afraid she’s growing up way too fast.”

“That’s it. I’m never ever leaving our daughter with Granger again!”

“For a moment there, I actually thought she was a polyjuced version of Hermione…” Harry laughed. “She’s a fierce one alright, does her name justice.”

Draco sighed. “I guess we both learnt our lesson…”

Harry nodded.

“No more mollycoddling our children.”

“I was gonna say no more children, but I suppose that also works.” Draco grinned wickedly but his expression became serious again almost instantly. “Seriously though, Harry, we’ve got to be more firm with Kayda. She gets away with murder.”

“Let’s not let it get that far.” Harry smiled and they both vowed to tighten the reigns. James was too small but Kayda was rapidly developing a personality that needed much more attention than they had thought.

“We can’t have done all that bad of a job though.” Draco said, frowning a little. “I mean, our little dragon, she’s a fine young lady. She’s smart and she’s got her heart in the right place.”

“She’s got you for a father.” Harry smiled and because he fully expected Draco to scoff at the ridiculously sappy compliment, he quickly closed the small gap between them and he placed a gentle kiss on Draco’s lips. He lingered for a moment, then pulled away slightly. “I love you.” Harry whispered, staring into Draco’s beautiful grey-blue eyes, instantly drowning in the clear orbs. Draco shuddered, then reached out and clasped both his hands around the back of Harry’s neck. He pulled him in for a fierce kiss, a silent affirmation that they had indeed learnt their lesson. Next time one of their children did something he or she wasn’t allowed to, he or she would not get away that easily. Granted, James was probably save for at least another two years but it was high tide that Kayda got away with a little less.

**The End**


End file.
